In brief: 3 of 4 crew rescued after tugboat sinks

FIRE ISLAND, N.Y. – One tugboat crew member died and three others were rescued Saturday when their boat sank in icy and stormy waters about a mile off Fire Island, authorities said.

One of the crew members managed to make a cellphone call to the Coast Guard at about 2 p.m. as the tugboat Sea Bear was sinking, Coast Guard Petty Officer Morgan Gallapis said.

She said the man said their boat was sinking and they needed assistance.

“They had only seconds to let us know before they sank,” Gallapis said.

Three male crew members in immersion suits were rescued by the Coast Guard from the water a mile off a section known as Fire Island Pines, Gallapis said. Fire Island is a long, skinny barrier island that hugs the south shore of Long Island.

Coast Guard Command Duty Officer Mark Averill said the fourth man’s body was found shortly after 5 p.m. The victim was not wearing an immersion suit, Averill said.

He said the water temperature was 37 degrees.

Yard sale find may be worth thousands

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Jesse Ronnebaum isn’t sure what moved him to buy a worn painting of seven men playing pool from a yard sale other than his love of old things. Now the item he got after haggling the cost down to 50 cents may be worth thousands.

Ronnebaum, 28, who makes his living cleaning floors at the Honda plant in Greensburg, is hoping when the painting sells at auction in Chicago in May it will bring in enough to get him out of debt and let him set up savings for his children, ages 2 and 1.

“It would be nice not to have to live check to check,” said Ronnebaum, who lives in Batesville, about 65 miles southeast of Indianapolis.

Ronnebaum was at home last week when the light hit the painting just right and he saw the words “Palette and Chisel Club 1910” in the corner. He learned the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, which still exists, has been associated with some well-known artists. He agreed to work with Indianapolis art dealer Curt Churchman to have the painting restored and sell it at auction.

Churchman said the painting is unusual in that it was done by seven artists. He said the best-known of the group is Victor Higgins.

“I think $10,000 is realistic. I think a good day at auction it could maybe bring $25,000,” he said.

Mourners remember man shot by officer

MADISON, Wis. – Friends and family remembered a 19-year-old biracial Wisconsin man fatally shot by police as a friendly, funny person who liked to play basketball, and said Saturday they hoped his death would bring change that might prevent other young men of color from suffering the same fate.

Tony Robinson, also known as Terrell, died March 6 after what Madison police said was a confrontation in which he assaulted an officer. A preliminary autopsy showed Robinson was shot in his head, torso and right arm. The autopsy did not say if he was facing or turned away from the white policeman, who was identified as 45-year-old force veteran Matt Kenny.

At least 1,000 people packed a Wisconsin high school field house and spilled into a secondary gym Saturday for Robinson’s funeral, where family requested no outward signs of protest.

Search continues for troops’ remains

MIAMI – The largest sections of a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed during a nighttime training mission were pulled Saturday from the waters off Florida’s Panhandle amid efforts to recover the remains of all seven Marines and four soldiers who were killed.

The salvage operations that had been interrupted Friday night by bad weather were expected to finish late Saturday, Eglin Air Force Base spokesman Andy Bourland said.

The debris pulled from about 25 feet of water in the Santa Rosa Sound off Navarre will be moved to the Air Force’s Hurlburt Field to be examined by investigators.

“We will continue our recovery efforts as needed to ensure we collect as many human remains as possible,” Bourland said.

The Black Hawk crashed in dense fog early Tuesday.